I Will Fear No Evil (Psalm 23 Mysteries Book 10) (18 page)

Jeremiah made it back to the church with five minutes to spare. He took a moment to himself in the car to mentally prepare. Dealing with kids was always unpredictable and you had to be ready to roll with the punches. Sometimes literally. Wildman hadn’t said how many kids he was expecting to show up to the workshop. Given that it was a weeknight, he figured the number would be fairly small.

Having taken a few quick cleansing breaths he got out of his car and walked to the gym. His jaw dropped when he got inside. There were at least thirty kids from high school and college sitting on the bleachers. When he walked toward the front where a microphone had been set up and Wildman was standing they all began to cheer.

One of the first things he noticed was that the entire front row was made up of familiar faces. Jeremiah’s Rangers were all grinning at him, looking proud as could be. They were the kids who had followed him through the wilderness when they were attacked at Green Pastures camp.

Brenda and Sarah were sitting front and center, holding hands, mutually supporting each other. Both of them had clearly been crying for a very long time given the puffiness and redness around their eyes. They both managed to give him smiles, though. Flanking them on either side were the boys. Noah, Zac, Bobby, Stuart, Tray and Tim were all there along with the rest.

Half the kids in that room went to the synagogue, not the church. He’d no idea they’d signed up to help out the church with its haunted house. He felt a swell of pride. It had been a year-and-a-half since Green Pastures but he could see that they remembered. He could also see that all the other kids there who hadn’t lived through what they had were looking at the kids in the front row with the same amount of awe and respect with which they were looking at him.

“I don’t know what to say,” Jeremiah said when he stepped up to the microphone.

“That’s okay, Rabbi, we do,” Zac shouted.

“Rangers! Rangers!” his kids started the chant and the rest picked it up. He turned to look at the pastor who was smiling at him.

“These kids love you, and they’ll never forget what you did for them,” Dave said. “You know that even though the ones you led through the wilderness came from different backgrounds, different religions, and were different ages each one of them has stayed fast friends with the others?”

“I had no idea,” he admitted.

“You didn’t just save them. You changed them. In some cases you even changed their families. Zac was on the verge of running away from home because he couldn’t stand the screaming in his house while his parents were getting a divorce. You helped him go live with his grandparents and because of that and the changes they saw in him when he came back from Green Pastures it made them re-evaluate their own lives. They got marital counseling and reconciled. He moved back in with them just in time to spend his senior year at home.”

Through Jeremiah’s mind what Mark had told him in the pub came back. There were people here in Pine Springs who loved him and standing in front of those kids he had never felt so humbled in his entire life.

He cleared his throat and then took the microphone in his hand. “I just have one question. Who’s ready to learn how to scare the pants off people?”

There was a thunderous chorus of “me” and all the kids jumped to their feet screaming.

“Okay,” he said when they quieted down slightly. “Then let’s get started.”

Cindy had just finished eating dinner when she glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was six-thirty. Jeremiah should be teaching kids how to scare people. In a few minutes prayer chain members would arrive at the hospital to pray over Samuel. She hoped for his sake that it worked. She rinsed off her plate and put it in the dishwasher.

As she dried her hands she glanced at the clock again. She had enough time to get there if she wanted to go, too. The thought hadn’t occurred to her until just then. She wasn’t actually a member of the prayer chain, just the liaison between it and the church.

Suddenly, though, she felt an overwhelming urge to actually go and be a part of what they were doing tonight. She made a snap decision and five minutes later she was in the car on her way.

Once she got there she was relieved to see that there were indeed fifteen church members there. A woman in a dark suit who Cindy guessed to be the F.B.I. agent Mark had told them about nodded at her as she came into the room.

“Thank you so much for coming,” the woman said, addressing the group. “My name is Trina, I work for the F.B.I. and I’m here investigating some serious crimes. This man could hold a key piece of information. His name is Samuel and he’s been in a coma for nearly two years. I’ve called you together so that we might pray over him for his full and complete recovery.”

Heads bobbed up and down around the room as people signaled their understanding. Trina moved over next to the hospital bed and placed her right hand on Samuel’s forehead. She reached out with her left hand and the woman standing closest to her moved to take it. One by one they all linked up so they were standing in a circle around the bed. The man on the far end put his hand on Samuel’s shoulder and everyone bowed their heads.

The little old lady who was holding Cindy’s right hand began the prayer out loud. “Father, we bring before you this boy Samuel. He is ill, Lord, and only Your tender mercies can heal him. We, Your servants, come before You in prayer and supplication. We lift him up to You and we ask, heal him of whatever is wrong so that he might wake from this sleep that has stolen years of his young life.”

She finished and someone on the other side of the circle began to pray. Cindy felt a tingling in her spine and a warmth flooding through her hands. Peace washed over her as she listened to the prayers around her and added her own silent pleas for healing and restoration. She was amazed at the power of the prayers and regretted that she had never joined with this amazing group before in lifting someone up in prayer.

When a moment of silence came she finally had the courage to speak up herself. “God, please heal Samuel now, tonight.”

That was all she had to say. It wasn’t long or eloquent like many of the others, but it was from her heart. Around the circle others kept on praying. The longer they prayed the more warmth seemed to infuse her until she felt drowsy. Her legs were beginning to feel rubbery, like the energy was leaving them. Finally the last person prayed and ended it with a strong ‘Amen’ which they all chorused.

They all looked up, still in a circle, still holding hands. They stared at Samuel, who was so still in his hospital bed. His cheeks were flushed and she didn’t remember them being that way earlier.

Then, suddenly, Samuel’s eyes flew open.

15

Cindy gasped along with everyone else.

From his hospital bed Samuel looked up at all of them, eyes wide and uncomprehending. Trina smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” she said.

He struggled to move his mouth like he wanted to say something.

“Take it easy,” she warned. “You’ve been through a lot.”

Seconds later doctors and nurses were pouring into the room, looks of shock on all their faces.

Cindy stepped back and marveled at what had just happened. She was beyond exhausted and she was sure that once she went to bed she’d sleep for a week, but she felt a glow, an excitement. It had worked! They had managed to bring this guy out of his coma. She was so grateful that she had made the last minute decision to come and be a part of it all. It would have been so hard to believe if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

She felt tears welling in her eyes and she marveled at the miracle before her.

“Everyone, can we clear this room for just a few minutes?” one of the doctors was saying.

Cindy shuffled out into the hallway with the others. There several people leaned against walls or sat down on the floor. They all looked like she felt - elated but drained.

Trina approached Cindy. “Thank you. This wouldn’t have been possible without your help,” she said.

“I was just glad we could get people out here,” Cindy told her. “If we’d known about him, about his condition, maybe we could have helped sooner.”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was just perfect timing and now was the time he was meant to be healed,” Trina said. “Honestly, though, I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of faith and compassion. First Shepherd must be one special place.”

“We like to think so,” Cindy said with a smile. “Although at the end of the day we’re just a church like any other, struggling to get through and discover God’s will for our lives and live every day to the best of our abilities.”

“The faith you all displayed was still quite remarkable.”

“Thank you. And thank you for suggesting we come out to pray.”

“I’d love to tell you it was altruistic, but it was purely selfish on my part. I believe that guy in there can help us solve this whole mystery. But he couldn’t do that from his coma.”

“I hope you’re right,” Cindy said fervently. “This can’t go on much longer. I keep thinking it’s only a matter of time before the next body shows up.”

“I’m afraid you’re right. In my experience, there always is a next body.”

Cindy shuddered “I’m glad I don’t have your job.”

Trina smiled. “I understand. There are days I wish I didn’t have my job. But then there are days where everything comes together and I can help save lives and initiate healing for those who have lost something.”

“That will be good. There’s a lot of healing that needs to go on here in Pine Springs.”

“What makes you say that?”

Cindy thought of Jeremiah and all he’d been through, and the trauma that Traci and her sisters were suffering. She opened her mouth, but then quickly closed it again. “I’m sorry, it’s not my place to really say. I can’t believe I’ve said as much to you as I have. You’re very easy to talk to.”

Trina smiled. “I get that a lot. Remember, though, if you do need to talk, I’m always ready to listen.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Cindy said. “Right now, though, I’m planning on getting some sleep.”

“You’ve earned it. Have pleasant dreams tonight,” Trina said.

“Thanks,” Cindy said, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. “I think I just might.”

Jeremiah was well into his second hour with the kids and they were just as enthusiastic as they had been at the beginning. He had taught them ways to jump out and surprise people, noises to make that would pray on people’s base instincts, and what type of noisemakers and props to use to engender terror in their victims. Now, though was the ultimate lesson.

“Are you ready to learn your secret weapon?” he asked them.

Kids jumped up and down, roaring approval and willingness to learn.

“Okay, for this I need three volunteers.”

Hands shot up all over the room. This time he was careful to choose kids who did not know him. He had three of them line up in front of the others with their backs to him. “Okay, now I want each of you to silently count to ten in your head when I say go. When you hit ten, turn around. Okay, begin.”

He noticed that a couple of the kids were bobbing their heads up and down with their counting. He barely managed to hold back a chuckle as he crept up silently behind the biggest of the guys. He positioned himself so that he was directly behind the guy and waited for him to finish the ten count. A couple seconds later the kids began turning around. When the guy he was standing behind turned he found himself face-to-face with Jeremiah with only a mere inch between them. He shouted and leaped backward before losing his balance and landing on his rump. The kids next to him scattered, screaming as well.

Applause broke out around the room as Jeremiah helped him back to his feet. Then he returned to the microphone. “Silence, is the most frightening thing of all,” he explained. “People are waiting for the jump moments, the screams, the music crescendos. What they can’t prepare for is what they don’t see or hear coming. The silence gets them every time. Sure, they might run if a zombie is chasing them through the maze, but if you want to cause the most terror the way to do it is to move silently and don’t draw attention to yourself until you want to be seen.”

He pulled a couple more volunteers up out of the audience. “Let me show you one way to do this particularly well.”

He pointed to the guy. “Now, you’re walking through the maze and you’re still looking behind you because there was a particularly loud, obnoxious monster behind you and you want to make sure he’s not following you. So, walk while looking backward.”

The guy did as he was instructed. Jeremiah took the girl and walked her next to the guy, but with her hand extended mere inches in front of his head.

“And turn around,” Jeremiah instructed.

The guy turned around and saw the girl’s hand two inches from his face and he shrieked and backpedalled.

“The unexpected. Gets them every time,” Jeremiah said as the crowd roared its approval. He handed the microphone back to Dave and the pastor beamed at him.